Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-01-15

begin landing and receiving goods.
There was a big crowd of natives on
shore opposite the steamer, and they had
canoes, catamarans, and dhows enough
to have embarked 800 people. Just BE-
fore night closed in we sighted q large
junk coming down from the direction Of
Fofmosa, but gave her no particular at
tention. At about 0 o'clock she came
Jogging along at q tramp's gait, and
diopped her mud hook within 200 feet
OF us. ] gave her a looking over with
the night glass, and as only five or six
men could be made out on her decks, il
was natural to conclude that she was 6
trader.
Being in port, with fair weather for
the night, the crew might expect that
only an anchor watch would be main
tanned. The men must therefore have
been somewhat surprised when Captain
Tabor invited our five natives to 20
ashore, and spend the night with theft
friends, and announced to the rest of us
that we should stand watch and watch
The cook was the only native who did
not go. He declared that he had enemies
ashore who would kill him, and he WI s
therefore allowed 10 occupy his accus-
toned quarters There were ten of us
besides him, and soon after the junk an
choied, the guns were cast loose aud
loaded with grape, the firearms brought
up and made ready, and the engineer
was instructed to keep steam enough to
permit US to move The cable was ar
ranged for slipping, and then five men
turned in ''all standing" and the other
five of us stood watch. Before this oc-
CURED the Captain said to me:
'lIr. Graham, this may be gong to a
good deal of trouble for nothing, but the
man who deals with these natives has
got to be prepared for any emergency.
l will Therefore head the second watch.
Keep your eye on that Junk, and permit
no boat to come aboard under any cir
cumstances. y
I distributed my m n over the vessel
to the best advantage, and reserved to
my elf the right to act as free lance
That is, went from one part Of tho yes.
sci to another, and kept one eye on the
junk and the other on the beach. All
was quiet up to half-past eleven o'clock,
when made two discoveries in quick
Succession. The cook had prepared o
large dish of coffee for our use during
the night. We had largo urn on q
stand in one corner of the dining room,
aud lamp underneath kept the coffee
hot. The same thing is in use in Amer
ican hotels and restaurants. / was on
the point of entering the cabin to secure
drink of the beverage when, as l passed
an open window, beard the cover of the
Urn rattle, and then caught the footsteps
OF some one in retreat. 1t could be none
other than the native cook, argued, but
| did not go to his quarters to verify OF
disprovc my suspicious. l entered the
cabin, turned up the light, and carefully
examined the urn. The rascal had GER
tainly ''dosed" it. There was grayish
powder on the cover and on the edge Of
the urn, and in his haste. he had spilled
some on the floor. A look inside showed
numerous bubbles on the surface OF
the liquid, but these broke and dis
appeared while was looking The rascal
could have but one object in his actions.
l arranged the can 40 that no one could
secure drink, and then started to mott
fly the Captain AS / passed along the
deck looked for the junk, and in an in
slant saw that she had decreased the dis
tance between us. The tide was setting
in, and she was either dragging hei
anchor or had purposely raised it and
allowed herself to drift. The Captain
was up as soon as I touched his arm. and
when / reported my suspicious of tho
cook and the junk he replied: "Call all
the men at once, but make no noise
That junk has got fifty men in her hold,
and the natives on shore are in with a
plot to capture us. Take pair of hand.
cuffs and have the cook secured in his
berth.n
After had called the men / went to
make prisoner of the cook, but he was
nowhere TO be found. His object in re-
naming aboard up to that hour was to
drug our coffee and note what prepara-
tions we were making When he got
ready to go he probably swan to the
shore with his news, but he could have
reported little more than the fact that ho
had drugged our coffee, which all who
were awake at midnight would probably
tuuhC uSc oA- W ucH luc lutu nd0 ISCclNcu
their orders we paid our attention to the
junk, and one of the guns was quietly
rolled across the deck and trained upon
her. When the night glass was di-
rected to the shore we could make out
that many OF the natives were moving
shout and evidently getting ready for
some expedition. There was no question
now but what we were to be attacked.
We had good pressure of steam, plenty
Of hot water. and the hose was attached
and man assigned to take charge of it.
It was an hour and half after mid
night before there was any decided move
on the part of the enemy. The Captain
Of the junk could not have had night
glass, and perhaps he reasoned that we
we're as badly off. He kept paying out
his cable foot by foot unit he was so
close onto US that could have tossed a
biscuit aboard of him. Owing to the
set of the tide or some cross current, be
dropped down to us stern first, while we
lay broadside to tn beach. he stern
of the junk was po nted amidships of the
steamer. and our gun would iake his
whole deck at every discharge. At
o'clock two men # her in a small boat